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Deaths related to Prescription Drug Overdoses Decline in 2011

Deaths related to Prescription Drug Overdoses Decline in 2011

August 14, 2012

DECATUR – An analysis of autopsies performed by the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office in 152 counties which drug overdose was the cause of death or a significant contributing factor in the death found there was an 8.6% decrease in the number of prescription overdose deaths in 2011 compared to 2010.

Note: These statistics do NOT include autopsies performed by medical examiners in Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, DeKalb, Henry, Hall or Rockdale Counties.

Of the 664 drug overdose deaths in 2011, there were 512 deaths which involved only prescription drugs. The analysis also showed that 82 drug overdose deaths in 2011 involved only illicit drugs and seventy (70) deaths were attributed to a combination of both prescription and illicit drugs.

In 2010, 560 of the 729 overdose deaths were attributed to prescription drugs only.

Deaths from:

2008

2009

2010

2011

Rx Only

496

508

560

512

Illicit Drugs only

95

86

101

82

CombinationRx & Illicit

47

76

68

70

Total Overdose Deaths

638

670

729

664

For overdose drug deaths in 2011, the drugs found through toxicology tests in the highest numbers were as follows:

Drug

Number

Alprazolam (For anxiety, Xanax)

231

Oxycodone (Narcotic Pain Reliever)

188

Methadone (Narcotic Pain Reliever)

158

Hydrocodone (Narcotic Pain Reliever)

133

Cocaine (Stimulant, Illicit)

89

Fentanyl (Narcotic Pain Reliever)

65

Morphine (Narcotic Pain Reliever)

63

Diphenhydramine (Antihistamine, Benadryl)

55

Methamphetamine (Stimulant, Illicit)

51

Citalopram (For depression, Celexa)

46

These are just the top 10 of the seventy-one (71) different drugs found in toxicology tests run on the 664 total overdose deaths. There were on average 2.54 drugs found for each death (1686 instances of the 71 different drugs found in the 664 deaths).

For all drug deaths, the numbers per age range for 2011 were as follows:

Age

Number of deaths

15 or younger

0

15 – 24

59

25 – 34

130

35 – 44

169

45 – 54

212

55 – 64

81

64 or older

13

A breakdown by race and sex for 2011 for all drug overdose death follows: